[Editorial] Domestic violence in China

March 12, 2016

The Lancet 387, 10023 (2016)

Author: The Lancet

A survey from the All-China Women’s Federation in 2013 reported that a quarter of Chinese women are victims of domestic abuse at some point in their lives, and the real number is likely to be much higher. Although anyone can be a victim of domestic abuse, women experience the overwhelming majority of attacks, and almost 90% of reported cases in China involve women experiencing abuse from their husbands. Until now, Chinese law has included no specific protection against violence in the home. Domestic violence was only accepted as grounds for divorce in 2001, and was deemed a private matter, with no legal definition and poor police protection.